Chapter 298 : Divine Land (1)
The day after Alon greeted Rine.
"Master!"
"Big brother!"
"Seolrang, Radan."
Alon went to see Seolrang and Radan, who were now well enough to get out of bed.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, thanks to you. If you hadn't told me, it would've been a disaster!"
"Told you? Ah~ you mean that."
"Yeah, about using magic!"
At Seolrang's words, Alon let out a small "Ah" of realization.
Indeed, just as she said, Alon had roughly explained the sin of Greed to her when Mother Greed first appeared.
"In any case, I'm glad you're safe."
"You were worried about me?"
"Isn't it only natural that I would be?"
Alon responded with a question of his own.
Seolrang laughed with a "Heehee," then—
"Master, my ear~!"
She pushed her face close to him.
Alon naturally pressed Seolrang's ear gently, and Seolrang clung to him while humming softly.
Seeing her like that, Alon smiled—
"Hm? Big brother."
"What is it?"
"Where's your brooch?"
"Brooch?"
Only after Radan asked did Alon realize the brooch on his chest had disappeared.
Alon quickly recalled what happened yesterday.
"Oh, now that I think about it, I tucked it into my chest."
"I see."
"But why are you asking?"
Radan hesitated for a moment.
As if trying to figure out how to answer.
Just when Alon started to wonder about the long pause—
"It's just that it looked really good on you, and suddenly you weren't wearing it, so I got curious. Hahaha."
Radan quickly responded.
"Yeah yeah, it looked really good on you, Master."
Seolrang, who had been quietly listening, nodded her head enthusiastically.
"...?"
Alon made a puzzled expression at their reactions.
Just a moment ago, Seolrang had been smiling happily, but now her pupils seemed to tremble.
"I suppose I should put it back on."
Thinking nothing of it, Alon pinned the red brooch back on his chest.
Seolrang and Radan let out a small sigh in secret.
"Have you met Rine?"
At Alon's question, their expressions returned to normal.
"Oh, yeah! We met!"
"Yes, we did, big brother."
"She seemed to be doing well, so I was relieved," Radan added.
Hearing that, Alon remembered what Evan had said that morning and asked,
"Come to think of it, I heard you're both leaving soon—is that true?"
"Yeah, that's right. Something suddenly came up."
"Yes, big brother. It's the same for me."
"...Aren't you moving around too much without resting?"
"That may be true, but there's something I really have to do, so it can't be helped."
"Same for me, Master. I'd like to hang out with you more too."
Expressing their regret, Radan and Seolrang said light farewells to Alon.
"Are you leaving right away?"
"Yeah, see you again, Master!"
"I'll see you again too."
"Sure."
They left so quickly it could truly be called in an instant.
"...Like the wind."
Though they had been oozing with regret, their quick disappearance left Alon with a strange expression—though only for a moment.
"Lord."
"Ria."
This time, Historia appeared in front of Alon.
She looked clearly better than the last time Alon had seen her.
"I'm glad you look well."
"Yeah."
As they spoke, Alon noticed the small pack on her back and felt curious.
"But... are you heading somewhere?"
Historia nodded.
"Yeah."
"You don't need to rest more?"
"I'm fine. I'll be back soon."
"You'll be back soon?"
"Yeah."
With the short farewell of "See you next time," she was gone.
"...?"
Three people vanished so quickly.
Alon grew more and more confused.
At that moment—
On the outskirts of Fildagreen—no, of Greynifra.
When they had left Fildagreen, Seolrang and Radan had still seemed full of energy.
But now their expressions were somber.
They walked in silence without saying a word.
And as they neared the boundary of Greynifra—
"We didn't really help at all, did we."
Seolrang murmured quietly.
Her voice carried a trace of discouragement.
Radan, who had also been silent, replied—
"Yeah."
Calmly and plainly.
Once again walking silently, the two finally reached the border of Greynifra.
And then—
"I'm heading out."
Seolrang moved first.
"...You're going back to the colony?"
"I'm going back to prepare for what's next."
"What's next?"
"Yeah. In case something like this happens again next time—"
So I can protect Master properly, she murmured as she looked down at the gauntlet on her arm.
"See you next time, then."
She vanished before Radan's eyes in an instant.
Radan stared at the spot where Seolrang had been and let out a long sigh.
Memories of the past clearly resurfaced in his mind.
More than Seolrang, he had been especially unhelpful.
"...What should I even do."
Radan whispered softly, like a breeze.
His hands clenched tightly with force.
And at that very moment—
"...."
Historia was also on the move.
'I have to retrieve it.'
She was heading toward the Ronobeli Jungle.
With each step she took, her footprints dug deep into the ground.
Shortly after the three of them had left—
"Brother, are you sure you don't need to rest a little longer?"
"Yes, I'm fine. More importantly, how is the situation?"
Alon, who had been visited by Magrina the night before, walked around inside Fildagreen with her to grasp the current state of things, and he quickly came to a conclusion.
'Not good.'
It was exactly that.
Fildagreen was not in a favorable condition.
Because of the Sin's attack, nearly half of the territory had been torn away.
Though the soldiers and civilians had evacuated in time and were unharmed—
Rebuilding the town would take over a year, even with every mage mobilized.
"Sigh~ It's worrisome."
Magrina sighed with a gloomy expression.
After a moment of thought, Alon called to her.
"...Magrina."
"Yes, brother?"
"If it's alright with you, would you consider receiving help from human mages?"
"Human mages?"
"Yes."
Of course, he knew that elves generally disliked humans.
But in this situation, restoring the territory quickly had to be the priority.
After thinking briefly, she nodded in response to Alon's proposal.
"If what you say is true and we can really bring in mages, then I guess there's no other way right now. But~ is there even a method to invite them?"
"If you let me use a few administrative permissions, there's a very simple method."
"Some permissions?"
Alon explained calmly to the curious Magrina.
A few moments later—
"If that's all, it's not difficult. But are you sure that would be enough to summon mages?"
"Yes."
After reassuring a still slightly skeptical Magrina, Alon went to find Penia.
And then—
"Gasp—so you're saying that if they want, they can hand-copy the contents of the old tomes...?"
"Yes, though not the ones in the underground archives—just those in the outer levels. But, with this condition, the mages—"
"Would come and work, right!? It's totally doable!! Honestly, if we put out a notice, I bet we'd have fifty of them lining up by tomorrow!"
"...That many?"
"Of course that many! They know I wrote my thesis based on information I got here."
"Well, that's fortunate news."
Just like that, they secured labor—no, support—with ease.
As Alon nodded in approval, Penia glanced at him and cautiously spoke.
"But, um, Lord Marquis."
"What is it?"
"If I bring in the mages for you... maybe... would I get something in return?"
She fidgeted with her fingers as she asked, and Alon replied.
"I'll see what I can do about giving you access to the underground archives and old tomes."
"I'll prepare right away!!!"
With just one word from Alon, Penia's eyes sparkled and she darted off.
Her eyes gleamed like a character from an old idol anime who just pulled off a last-minute miracle ending—so Alon thought.
Once the situation had been handled, Alon sat down and took a moment to catch his breath.
"Godfather."
"Rine."
This time, Rine had come to see him.
"Did you get some rest?"
"Not really, no."
In truth, Alon hadn't gotten much rest at all today.
He had sent off Seolrang, Radan, and Historia, who had all suddenly departed in the morning—
And spent the whole afternoon checking on Fildagreen.
'Honestly, I didn't have to personally oversee the Fildagreen situation.'
But since he had been granted a title, Alon felt it was his responsibility to handle at least the minimum.
So he had spent nearly the entire day inspecting Fildagreen.
"Shouldn't you get some rest?"
"That may be true... Oh, by the way—Rine, what are your plans now?"
"Me?"
"Yes. Are you heading back to Lartania?"
At that, Rine made a thoughtful expression and soon shook her head.
"No, I think I'll stay here for a while."
"For a while? Why?"
"Hmm—"
Rine hesitated for a moment, as if unsure whether to say it or not.
"...The truth is," She finally began to speak.
And Alon—
"You're making an artifact out of Agui?"
"Yes. It's still down in the underground."
He was able to hear something quite surprising.
"So, to sum it up, when you were sealed, you used forbidden knowledge to summon the Sin and incarnated Agui?"
"Yes."
"And then, you erased the Sin but kept only the power of it?"
"By the time I had completely subdued Agui, it was actually pretty easy to turn it into an artifact. It just took a long time to fully stabilize."
"So in conclusion, you can't leave the Greynifra area until the artifact stabilizes?"
"That's right, Godfather. If I get disconnected from it, it'll go out of control."
"...Is that artifact really that important?"
"Hmm—if I didn't have it, I wouldn't have been able to summon that thing last time."
"That's a seriously important item."
"Yes. I've put 600 years into it, after all. But—"
Rine suddenly gave a crescent-moon-shaped smile.
"If you tell me to give it up, Godfather, I will."
"...All of a sudden?"
"Yes."
"...That's not what I meant. And do you really think I'd say that, knowing how much effort you put into it?"
"No, I actually figured you wouldn't say that. So this is—"
She smiled gently.
"Kind of like... a way to appeal to you."
She added, with a subtle meaning in her words.
Looking at Alon with green eyes glimmering between her smiling lashes.
"....."
Alon instinctively turned his head away.
Rine looked at him with a pleased expression.
A long silence followed between them.
***
A few days later.
Just when Alon had fully recovered and was considering returning to his domain—
Late at night—
The Blue Moon Council was held once again upon Rine's return.
The meeting, which was originally scheduled every six months, had not taken place since Rine's disappearance.
But despite it not being time yet, Yutia had summoned everyone.
The meeting had six attendees.
Yutia, Seolrang, Rine, Radan, Deus, and Hidan.
Even excluding Hidan—
The remaining five were such a noisy bunch that a proper meeting was nearly impossible when they were together.
Especially now that Rine had returned.
But at this rare meeting—
No one dared to speak easily.
Seolrang darted her golden eyes around, trying to read the room.
Radan was the same.
Deus, who at first cluelessly tried to brag about his little sister with a loud "Ahem," quickly realized the atmosphere and awkwardly turned his gaze to the distant mountains.
As for Hidan, who was tasked with leading the meeting—
"Ghhk—"
He involuntarily gasped for air, making tiny choking sounds every few seconds as he nervously glanced at the two sources of pressure—
Rine and Yutia.
Then quickly looked away.
Please save me... everyone thought, except for Rine and Yutia.